Media

ABC International to cease shortwave services to Pacific

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has announced it will cease shortwave transmissions to Papua New Guinea and the Pacific from 31 January 2017.

The change comes amidst a more general period of restructuring within the national broadcaster, and will also apply to domestic shortwave services in the Northern Territory.

The ABC acknowledged in a press release that these changes may affect audience access to its services in the Pacific. However it claims that a reinvestment in FM and digital broadcasting will better serve the changing technological needs of users in the long term.

In a commentary piece for The Interpreter, the Lowy Institute’s Jonathan Pryke has argued that ABC should use resources freed up by the cut to shortwave services to invest in reaching new audiences through emerging technologies, as well as encouraging greater depth in reporting of the region.